The 365 blog above has a good description of what one can entail. It usually involved herbs, incense, blood of some animal, prayers, an egg, a curandera, and whatever else your shaman has decided in their vast experience exorcising the bad energies and spirits out of people that you will need to heal.

I dont really believe in any things like this but the “limpia” ceremony (literally means “clean”) is an interesting phenomenon in Mexican culture. We are really a superticious people. I have two beautiful children (no bias here) and everytime we go out and a lady looks at them they have to touch them.  If you dont the kid will get the evil eye or “Mal de Ojo”. A result of this ailment usually involves kids having stomach problems… possibly a great deal of vomiting. It might involve a cold. It some extreme cases it could maybe even lead to the death of the beautiful child. Supposedly this “eye” is not done on purpose but if you look at a child long enough and want one like it or admire it… you can do it without knowing it.. so you must touch the baby or carry it for a few seconds. This will ward off the eye that you could have given the child.

If we go out somewhere and our kids have been stared at we come home and give them a bath with some herbs… this is a good step is keeping the evil out, Gloria goes so far as to give them a rub down with alcohol. She tells me when they have been around women with no children who want children because if that is the case I need to keep an eye out for any signs of sickness that could have been caused as a result.

These beliefs are old and ingrained deep within the culture and psyche of my family. My family doesnt claim to follow the old folk traditions because they are generally based on pagan rituals and beliefs… but when I saw them this Tuesday to have dinner with them they insisted that I put socks on my children to avoid them getting any kind of “bad airs” that come in through their feet. We live in a large city in the united state and my father went to medical school…. and he truly and honest to goodness believes this to be true. They refused to leave until I put sock on my kids feet eventhough it was 80 degrees outside. I shook my head and nodded… knowing full well that even in my skepticism I do my own little things to make sure that none of the evil spirits or energies get to us.

Mike believes in karma, wayyyy before My name is Earl came out… Mike was a believer that karma was a powerful force in our lives and he doesnt believe in doing certain things because it created bad juju for us. We joke about it… and I wonder sometimes if it is he really thinks that it is true or not… but when certain things pop up he will stop me or himself from doing things.. as to not get the dark clouds around us as a result of our actions. I guess this is his own form of weird beliefs.

What’s funny about these beliefs in my culture is that we are very high and mighty about how this is not witchcraft… this is not dark magic.. this is just the energies moving around us.  I guess it is like the “force”… if you want to put it in a geek term.

I find it funny how most cultures have something like this.

So my family insists that someone has somehow put some kind of black mark on our house or our family… maybe we made someone angry or maybe someone is jealous of us. They are unsure but we need a cleansing apparently.

Gloria has made sure to give her house a good cleansing because she wants to make sure that it is not coming from her. She burned a few oils and moved some furniture around to try and create a cleaner “air” for the children and for her.  Their suggestion is that we do something similar.

I have been eating copious amounts of chocolate recently. I think that it is my way of fending off the foul mood I get into when I feel sick. I made chocolate cupcakes this week and the week before I made donuts.

I dont know what the world is telling me but maybe I just need to start using bleach again…

Regardless, I might pick up a dozen eggs tonight to shake in front of my coughing kids and husband. Hey, it cant hurt.

What have we been up to? Tons…

Tomorrow we start a Kindermusik and Sign Language class at our downtown library with the kids. I am looking forward to it.

Kate got her kitchen in finally from Camden Rose.  I am in love with it and so it she… basically it is the most beautiful piece of anything that I have seen in a long time. The wood has a great color and it is true heirloom quality.

I knit the little towel for the oven so she could have her own towel to hang on her kitchen. She thought it was really cool and was amazed that I made it just for her, she knew I made it because she watched me knit it for a couple of days.  It matches our real kitchen because our kitchen has wood trim so she really thinks that it is all part of our kitchen.  She is truly amazing. .. she is getting smarter and more chatty. She amuses Calvin and he amuses her as well.. they do a good job of keeping each other company at this point.

Calvin is no longer my little potato baby… this makes me sad as I truly feel like my baby boy is dissappearing before my eyes… just like Kate did.

this is hard on a mother… so very hard.

What do I take when sick? It really depends.

I am breastfeeding so I cannot take things like Sudafed because they will possibly dry up my supply. Most antihistamines will do this. I cant take other meds because the drugs will transfer through my milk to the baby I am feeding with my tit juice.

So what can I take? What do I take?

1. Emergen – C – I swear by this stuff. It tastes horrid but a couple of these a day has helped take the edge off of many colds in the past. It also helps me prevent getting cold when others have colds around me. I did not take some this time when the kids started getting sick and I was surrounded by the sick death plague ™ which I believe is why I feel like death now.
2. Oscillo by Boiron : I do believe in homeopathic meds and have a cabinet full of things that I take to help me feel better. I also use Coldcalm when my symptoms are not as bad as they do for me to take Oscilo. The kids have their own stuff and I have Chestal for them. Another thing I have around is just straight Pulsatilla. I even give this to the kids because I have it in a dosage that is safe for them to take as well.  This isnt all that I have but it is what I mainly use for my cold/flu symptoms that is actual medecine.
3. Honey. I love honey. Honey is great for everything. I put it on scars and on pimples. I use it for my facials and I sweeten tea with it. If I had to name a perfect food honey would be it. Raw, Unfiltered, and unheated honey is the best obviously but I understand that it is difficult to find. Well you make do with what you can. As we speak I am downing a little bottle of honey with lemon squeezed into it.  It has other things in it… which brings me to #4.
4. Garlic.  Garlic is part of my concoction of doom ™ that I make when we are sick. It basically involves heating a lemon under an open flame or in a salamander until it is a little brown (not black, just brown). Adding some of the above mentioned lemon. Garlic. Onions. and putting the lemons face down  in the honey mixture and eating it as hot as you humanly can. I have made this for my husband when he was sick and he hated it but ate it up and felt better.
5. Chicken soup. Yes it is an old stand by that our moms and grandmothers have used for year and that is one of the reasons why I know it works. This is why I believe that it works. The broth of homemade chicken soup (do not use premade broth because if you do you are officially failing at life) is full of nutrients from the veggies in the soup. The onions, the carrots, the celery… all of this is in the broth. The broth instantly revives us and gets us to drink more liquids… liquids are important when you are sick.
6. Quick defense: This contains two things that are great for colds, Echinachea and Elderberry. Elderberry syrup is actually easy to make at home and a good cold/flu concotion as well. I think I will try to make some to keep on hand for next time… but not right now. *sneeze sneeze cough cough* Anyways, Quick Defense is really concentrated and really expensive.  But it works. There really isnt much else to say about this.

All of these work in different ways. My beliefs are that we dont need things to cure us, but we need things that will better arm our body so that our body can do its job of curing us.  Sometimes colds, especially repeated ones are signs that we are not doing enough for our bodies. Either we are eating too little to lose weight, or we are not eating the types of foods that our body needs… so it cannot help us fight things off like it should.

I am going to go get some rest and finish off my chicken soup from yesterday. See you on the other side.

I always get concerned about the kids being sick at the same time because they are both whiny at the same time and they are both needy at the same time.

Between my health floundering and theirs too I feel like we should just take a few days to relax. We are always so busy and doing so much. Burning the candle at both ends it seems. Even the kids…

my goal for next year is to not do as much and to not push myself so hard. my family needs me. my children need a break. What are your goals for next year?

i hope we are all better soon.

for a couple weeks now. between fever and sneezes and snot all three of us are just a bunch of sickos.

kate is taking this much better than Mike and I are. of course she sleeps all she wants and doesnt have to do anything other than sit and be adorable and pee and poop.

Right now she is running around naked because she took off her diaper. she does that quite often. we think she is a tiny nudist.